eventually winter will end, probably by Father's day weekend and I'll get my workshop up and running. I need to finish my tele headstock style neck and I don't have a string tree on it. Do they need one and where do I put it? As in x inches from nut and y inches from edge?
You don't need xy coordinates. Just somewhere around the D A string tuner, and let the strings dictate the lateral point.
It's around 3 7/16" from the nut on my Fender and G&L. Laterally just do what sissy kathy said...center it over the two strings.
Ummm, A string you mean? The early P basses had them right where the first curve on the bottom of the head begins. Between the A and E tuners. Google 195x precision bass pics.
Well, if ya wanna get all correct and everything yes, I do mean the A string. I've been mixing up the A and D for almost fifty years. Why stop now?
I looked at pictures and it appears Fender put whomever showed up drunk for work that day on the headstock string tree detail. ALL OVER the place.
Remember, when you do it the second time it becomes a tradition and you are obligated to continue doing it. (I learned that at Texas A&M, where it seems to be an inflexible rule.)